The proposed expansion of the Abbot Point coal export terminal is running out of friends in the banking world. This week’s news that US giants Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, and JPMorgan Chase will not finance the proposed coal export terminals at Abbot Point bring the total number of banks to have made this commitment to nine. Even Morgan Stanley, currently in business with Adani over the partial sale of the existing coal export terminal at Abbot Point, acknowledge the environmental risks associated with the proposed new terminals and won’t provide funding to expand the coal port.

Last week finance watchdogs, Market Forces and BankTrack, notified eight Chinese banks that loans issued to Australian coal projects may violate a Chinese banking policy. The policy, known as the Green Credit Directive, is one of the most innovative green finance policies produced by Chinese authorities to date. The policy requires Chinese banks to suspend, or even terminate, lending to projects based on environmental grounds. This marks the first time that NGOs have attempted to invoke the policy and persuade Chinese banks to re-evaluate the quality of loans based solely on environmental risks.